On This Day

Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) is published.

Les Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. Les Fleurs du mal includes nearly all of Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867.

Les Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.

Les Fleurs du mal includes nearly all of Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First published in 1857, it was important in the symbolist—including painting—and modernist movements. Though it was extremely controversial upon publication, with six of its poems censored due to their immorality, it is now considered a major work of French poetry. The poems in Les Fleurs du mal frequently break with tradition, using suggestive images and unusual forms. They deal with themes relating to decadence and eroticism, particularly focusing on suffering and its relationship to original sin, disgust toward evil and oneself, obsession with death, and aspiration toward an ideal world.

Historical Significance

Les Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.

Events Before

  1. Colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the first piece of legislation, the Electoral Act of 1856, anywhere in the world pr

    Colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the first piece of legislation, the Electoral Act of 1856, anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot

  2. Republican Party holds its first national meeting in Pittsburgh

    Republican Party holds its first national meeting in Pittsburgh

  3. The Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Paris endin

    The Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Paris ending the Crimean War

  4. American industrialist and firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt (41) weds American philanthropist Elizabeth Hart Jarvis (29

    American industrialist and firearms manufacturer Samuel Colt (41) weds American philanthropist Elizabeth Hart Jarvis (29) at Christ Episcopal Church in Middleton, Connecticut, until his death in 1862

  5. Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled han

    Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa, and head west for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled handcarts

Events After

  1. Inventor Cyrus McCormick (48) weds Nancy Fowler

    Inventor Cyrus McCormick (48) weds Nancy Fowler

  2. US President Millard Fillmore (58) weds Caroline Carmichael (43) in Albany, New York

    US President Millard Fillmore (58) weds Caroline Carmichael (43) in Albany, New York

  3. First vision of the Virgin Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes, France

    The Song of Bernadette (German: Das Lied von Bernadette) is a 1941 novel that tells the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who, from February to July 1858 reported eighteen visions of the Blessed…

  4. Big Ben, a 13.76-tonne bell, is recast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry

    Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, by extension, for the clock tower which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England.

  5. Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand" accepting Illinois Republican Party's nomination for

    Abraham Lincoln says "A house divided against itself cannot stand" accepting Illinois Republican Party's nomination for the Senate

More from the 1850s

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened on June 1, 1857?
Les Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire. Les Fleurs du mal includes nearly all of Baudelaire's poetry, written from 1840 until his death in August 1867. First published in 1857, it was important in the symbolist—including painting—and modernist movements.
Why is Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) is published. significant?
Les Fleurs du mal is a volume of French poetry by Charles Baudelaire.

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